September Recognition 09

I admit, I was a slacker in September and didn't post any recognition for August. I appreciate all of you who worked hard in our last month of the summer catalog. Christine Dunlap, Megan Moreno, and Heather Uhland, all from AZ, finished the month out "tops" in the $550s. Right on their tail was Ronda Strauss (NY) with $529. Other active demonstrators in August were Ginger Good, Nancy Simpson, Jessica Hernandez, Kelley Montana, Sandra Hessert, Raquel Thompson White, Kelly Ashliman, Elizabeth Campbell, Mary Fulk, Traci Rhodes, Christina Morgan, T. Knight, Jennifer Arrellano, Lisa Thorpe, Zoe Mitchell, Tasha Jacquez, Sandy Sellers and Melanie Davis. WOW! That's awesome! 22 of us placing orders that totalled over $6,250. I'd like to welcome new demonstrators to our team in August, Bonnie Eismon (AZ), referred to me by a previous demonstrator, and Roseanna Martin (AZ) who was sponsored by Christina Guido (AZ). We are so happy to have Roseanna on board and put our hands together for Christina for signing her up - - - at her very first party nonetheless! Wonderful job everyone!

September was a great month for growing our team. We welcome back Jennifer Anderson (AZ) and Deanna Rust (AZ) as well as a brand new demonstrator, Lola Sanders (OK). The addition of these wonderful ladies brings our team count up to 58.

I am pleased with the leadership on our team. Senior Demonstrators are those demos who recruit 1-2 new demonstrators. We have 8 Senior Demonstrators, Gina Andersen (GU), Kathy Ashton (WA), Elizabeth Campbell (AZ), Christina Guido (AZ), Traci Rhodes (AZ), Ronda Strauss (NY), Raquel Thompson White (AZ), and Lisa Thorpe (OK). We also have one Gold Demonstrator on our team (sponsors 3-4 new demonstrators), Mary Fulk (AZ). We also have one Manager on our team (sponsors 5-9 new demos), Melanie Davis (AZ). My current leadership title is Senior Manager, meaning I have 10+ demonstrators in my frontline, plus at least 1 Senior Demo, plus at least 2 Gold Demos. My next promotion is "Gold" Manager for which I need 3 Gold Demos..... now which of you Senior Demonstrators is ready to kick it up a notch and recruit one more to help me out?????

Our September sales were awesome, up to 27 demonstrators placing orders (almost half! that's great!) With the fall season and being able to order out of BOTH summer and fall catalogs, our team sales were over $8,630. Hold on tight, this is just the beginning of a great season.... in the next month or two you are going to see that number double! That doesn't count the fundraiser submitted by Mary Fulk (AZ) for $9,841. Mary is the fundraising QUEEN! I do lot of fundraisers but they just don't compare to Mary's! Our top sellers for the month are: Ronda Strauss (NY) with $1390!!! Mary Reynolds (AZ) with $717, Kathy Ashton (WA) $696, Traci Rhodes (AZ) $672, Raquel Thompson White (AZ) with $460, and Christina Guido (AZ) with $455. All of you are amazing demonstrators! KEEP IT UP! And let me not fail to mention more awesomely awesome demonstrators who also sold this month: Suzanne Mortensen (IA), Lisa Thorpe (OK), Melanie Davis (AZ), Ginger Good (AR), Angela Palmer (AZ), Christine Dunlap (AZ), Kathy Kuwik (NY), Zoe Mitchell (AZ), Christina Morgan (AZ), Jessica Taylor (AZ), Shaunda Jacobs (AZ), Megan Moreno (AZ), Heather Mendoza (AZ), Jessica Hernandez (AZ), Lola Sanders (OK), Kathy Mendonca (CA), Sandra Hessert (AZ), Elizabeth Campbell (AZ) and Kelley Montana (AZ).

September was also the end of 3rd quarter and I am happy to say that our team sales for the quarter were $22,986 and the year-to-date sales are $65,552.

Before you go, I wanted to make sure you know October's Host Promotion is $20 bonus host rewards, and GC has extended the "3 easy payments" as well as the $20 Join Us promotion. See the updated flyer here https://essentials.goldcanyoncandle.com/GOLDCANYON/CMS/Portals/0/Oct09PromoFlyer-US-Updated.pdf. ALSO, have you all noticed you can round your customers' orders up for Prayer Child donations? Be sure you ask every customer as you complete their order - it's a great way to donate to a wonderful cause. Read up on the Prayer Child Foundation in your catalog and visit http://www.prayerchild.org/. AND, Gold Canyon is offering Cash Incentives for the next 3 months for sponsoring and for having 2 $400 parties/mo. If 60% of our team places 2 party orders of $400 in a given month EVERYONE who places those orders gets a 5% bonus (min. $40) in addition, $50/demo for 2 or more sponsored demos. Let's do it!

Thank you all for being a great team! You're the best - - I mean WE're the best! Keep it up!!

Demonstrators

We have a new teammate that is on fire! Raquel (AZ) stirred up interest in the business with a friend at her first party. She brought the friend, Chrissy to our team meeting and she signed up just after. Raquel helped Chrissy sign up a demo after her first party as well! They've been working together to market their businesses. Raquel is great to update me on her new team's success by email, "She is doing great and excited as ever. I'm helping her with her second party tomorrow. Her recruit is doing great, too and I believe her party is coming up very soon too. We are all pretty much an excited bunch of demo's. We let our excitement SOAR. :) We're tryin to burn some pounds by marketing twice a week in the mornings. It's nice yet I've bumped into 2 old friends in this manner. One gal is going to do a catalog party and the other I need to check in with." I just love hearing about it and feeling inspired by her enthusiasm. Raquel and Chrissy both recently attended the Tucson training meeting with me. She reports, "I encouraged myself to invest in the tealites. The tealites have helped me be stronger in the way of speaking up about Gold Canyon. In order to be successful I have to be out there with my team. We market twice a week utilizing flyers, but when I we see a individual walking into a store, or heading towards their vehicle I get there attention and let them know how wonderful our products are by giving them a brochure, and a free tealite, and I end my conversation by collecting their name, address, and phone number so I can follow up with them in a couple of days. It's a powerful little tool to utilize. From marketing Christy has received one party, and I have received one catalog party. We make action happen every week without out we will not succeed."

Another wonderful demonstrator also attended our Tucson meeting. Megan brought her good friend Eli with her.... who claimed she was just there for moral support. I really enjoyed meeting both ladies and hoped I could get Eli on board, she would be a great demonstrator!! I have since talked to Megan and Eli really is considering joining... come Eli, DO IT!!! Anyways, I asked Megan what she brought back from the meeting and she replied, "it helped me to just refocus and put more time into my business. I have 2 parties scheduled for October 3 and October 4! I have only done one party so I didn't really have anything but the samples to show. So I ordered some things a couple days ago that I think people would buy if they could see it in person. I also have another two parties in the works but one of them wants to have the party in their new home so we are waiting till that gets finalized! If I can get a good base of customers from these parties then I am going to get my website back up and running! Also, I think that I am going to try to make the toffee for the parties coming up! It was soooo tasty and would be a great way to sell the candle!" I can feel her excitement and I'm happy that she has reignited her flame with her candle business.

Thank you Raquel and Megan for sharing your stories with us, and for the amazing work you are putting in to your candle business! We all have a few things to learn from you!

Tucson Regional Meeting 9/1

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending a regional meeting launching our fall products. I was pleased to have some of our team members representing us. I got to present the new fall line up to the group, and brought some home made Caramel Pecan Brittle from the recipes in our new fall catalog. It was a sweet way to showcase our new Sweet Traditions line.

One of my favorite quotes from the evening is "The fortune is in the follow up". I think we often grab our money and run and forget to take great care of our customers. I'm going to work harder at following up with my customers so I can keep them coming back to me.

We had a great presentation about Gold Canyon's Prayer Child foundation. It is important for us to be aware and share what we know with our friends, guests, hosts and customers. It was stressed to push the Prayer Child line by selling at least one at every party. One of the demonstrators in attendance has applied for assistance from the Prayer Child Foundation for a special friend of hers. The program is close to home, there to help and we need to be supporting it.

Notice my pose, I'm trying to show off the Prayer Child Bracelet I won in the raffle at our meeting! It is the new 2009 addition to Gold Canyon's jewelry, silver with a chunky dangling heart, designed exclusively for the Prayer Child Foundation. Buy yours for $75 at http://www.prayerchild.org/. Profits benefit the foundation for children in need. It goes with everything from t-shirt & jeans to dresses and is a great conversation starter for your business!

We received a BOOKING handout I wanted to share with you. Everything in your Gold Canyon business starts when you book a selling appointment. From it comes sales, more bookings, regular customers and new team members. So your first step is to PACK YOUR CALENDAR! When you are writing on your calendar, you are writing in your checkbook!!! All you have to do is simply follow the suggested outline below. Then BELIEVE, WORK, FOLLOW THROUGH and IT WILL HAPPEN!

1. Make a list of every person you can imagine, to ask about giving them an opportunity to introduce their friends to our fabulous new products and scents.

2. Set aside one hour a day, your "Power Hour", each day of the week to work on the phone. Call each person to tell her you are participating in a special program and your assignment is to introduce at least five people this week to our fabulous new products and fragrances. Then ask for a date, giving her a choice (Tuesday night or Thursday night). Next, tell her to please share her Gold Canyon experience with five to ten friends and how she can receive free products. Explain our Host program and current monthly promotions. BOOK HER and then call your next prospect.

3. It is imperative that every one of your customers receives at least one phone call per catalog cycle. Seasonal changes in fragrances and updates in new products make it a vital service on your part as their PROFESSIONAL DEMONSTRATOR. Call and book a home or catalog party by offering the opportunity to earn free products or invite them to your open house.

4. The best possible place to book a party is at your party or open house. Your goal is to always book two selling appointments, one to replace the appointment you just had and one to grow on! Leaving a selling appointment without your 2 bookings is like walking out of your host's home and leaving money on the table. I would be much more excited about a $150 party with two bookings than a $400 party with no bookings. BOOKINGS ARE THE LIFELINE OF YOUR BUSINESS!

5. There are many other ways to book, however, the KEY to each and every approach is simply ask and expect a YES! The worst possible result you will get is a "no" and believe it or not, that will not injure or disable you unless you let it. A "no" is not a terminal situation, unless you want it to be.

These are our regional leaders, Senior and Gold Managers from Tucson. L-R Dana, Toni, me, Kathleen Quirk (home office), Kim, Lisa

Demonstrator Meeting 8/28

I want to extend a great big THANK YOU to the four local demos who took time from their busy schedules to attend our demonstrator training meeting last night! Here we are, Christina and baby Mallory, Traci, Chrissy, Raquel, Erin and my daughter Alayna.

We spotlighted some of the new fall releases, here we are "Romancing the Candle"
We took the fragrance quiz to see which of GC's new perfumes suits us, we introduced Gold Canyon's new leadership bonus, talked about September's promotions, fundraising, had a product hunt in the catalog, had drawings, and shared what was great in each of our own businesses this month.

I think the best part may have been playing with the Emerge products, each of us pampered our hands with the hand scrub and hand silk. It not only smells divine, it felt sooooo soft and luxurious. Lots of Emerge party ideas!

It was a fun night with giveaways, free gifts and stirring up some excitement for fall with Gold Canyon! Stay tuned and we'll do it again soon!

Mystery Hostess Event

Plan your own Open House this month and share the Host Rewards with your guests! Your flyer could say something like this:

Don't miss out on the biggest Gold Canyon Summer Event, where everyone can be a winner. Door prizes will be given for all in attendance. You do not need to be present to win the final drawing. Winner(s) will receive a percentage of the Hostess Rewards (Value up to $138*).
*Will be a 1st (60%), 2nd (25%), & 3rd (15%) place winner based on party total. Name drawn only once.Names are entered into the final drawing by the following ways:
1. Receive 2 tickets for attending
2. Bring a friend - receive 5 tickets/per guest
3. Order total of $50 - receive 5 tickets
4. Order total of $75 - receive 10 tickets
5. Order total of $100 - receive 15 tickets
6. Book a party - receive 20 tickets
7. Start your own business - receive 25 tickets

Team Recognition - July '09

July was HOT, thank you ladies for awesome sales, you made us look great! Your sales were just short of $9,000 this month plus $2864 in fundraising sales. Way to go!!!

First, I want to congratulate new demonstrator Christina Morgan (AZ) who not only reached $700 in sales to keep her full demonstrator kit FREE (June join us promotion), she also earned her first Quick Start Incentive and is receiving $75 in FREE products and now has the opportunity to move on to the next incentive level. I had the opportunity to attend Christina's debut party and have watched her take the steps to become a wonderful demonstrator. Christina also took time out of her schedule to join the new demonstrator orientation conference call so I wasn't surprised when she exceeded her goal! In showing a fantastic dedication to her business, she finished her first month at $864, in the top 3 for our entire team. Great job, Christina!!!

I would now like to welcome our new demonstrators... Jennifer Arellano (AZ) (July), Ginger Good (AR) (May), Tracy Mayberry (AZ) (July), Kelley Montana (AZ) (May), Christina Morgan (AZ) (June), Nancy JJ Simpson (GU) (June), Raquel White (AZ) (July), Heather Uhland (AZ) (June). I am so happy to have you all on our team! I can't wait to learn from you through working with you for candles. Though I am not all of your direct uplines, I am always here to help you with your Gold Canyon business.

I'd like to spotlight one of our Team Leaders, Gold Demonstrator Mary Fulk (AZ). This month Mary submitted a fundraising order of $2864 and had $1590 in team sales. Mary has been on board since 2004 and is a Charter Distributor with Gold Canyon. That means, she invested $5000 to join - back before it was so easy and not just anyone was allowed to do it. She has had literally tens of thousands of dollars in Fundraisers which is her forte and even received nationwide recognition from Gold Canyon for her efforts.

Our highest sales for the month goes to Mary Reynolds (AZ). Mary never ceases to amaze me with her massive parties. July was no different, Mary submitted $910 in a single party order! You are so awesome, Mary!!! And right on Mary's tail is Ronda Strauss (NY) another one of my favorite demos (did I say that?!) Ronda and Mary are very much alike with their consistent beefy sales. This month Ronda's sales were $864 in party AND personal website sales. I love the way you gals are promoting Gold Canyon's summer offerings!

We have another another group of sizzling sellers who really worked their businesses this month. Nancy Simpson (GU) had a $702 party, Ginger Good (AR) had $651 through personal and website sales, Heather Uhland (AZ) had a $501 party, Malanie Davis (AZ) sold $497 all through her personal website sales!!!, Christine Dunlap (AZ) sold $460 through parties and personal website orders, and Heather Mendoza (AZ) had a $452 party. You are the cream of the crop!

The other active sellers on our team this month are Jennifer Arellano, Sandra Hessert and Traci Rhodes, Kelley Montana, Angie Palmer, Mia Mayberry, Elizabeth Campbell, Barb Conboy and Kelly Ashliman.

I also wanted to share what I've been doing with my business this month. First, this blog. I hope you will take a moment to scroll down through the next few posts after you read the recognition. I try to update with ideas to help your business at least a few times each month. There is also an indexing system on this page if there is something particular you're looking for help with, go to the "Labels" section in the column on the right, find what you're looking for, click it, and all the posts pertaining to that will come up for your review. In addition to the team blog and answering lots of phone calls, I sponsored two demos and held a demonstrator orientation earlier in the month and spent 30 minutes answering questions and training new demos on our team on a conference call. Christina and Raquel both received FREE gifts from me for joining the call. I also attended both of their debut parties to support them and help answer questions. They have expressed an interest in attending local monthly demonstrator training meetings which I will start again this fall. I had a great party this month and I'm hosting my own open house this week. My monthly sales were $1,123 for party, personal and website orders. I have a fundraiser booked for this coming month. I recieved 75 Gold Dollars for sponsoring and other summer incentives. On the 10th I will receive a direct deposit from Gold Canyon for $537 for my downline commission check - this is on top of the earnings for my own sales. I also entered a float in our community Independence Day parade to market my business. I love my Gold Canyon business! It keeps me hopping but it is worth it. I hope some of you may be interested in building your business so you can enjoy even more of the fun and money it has to offer! I'm here to support you, just a phone call or an email away! Stay in touch!

Have a great August, remember this is the last month for our summer catalog. Coming soon is all of the delicious fall fragrances, decor and lots of great new products.

Watch and Learn

This summer I've been invited to a few home parties from other direct sales companies. I've enjoyed sitting back as "the guest" instead of "the demonstrator" and taking mental notes of what they are doing that I can incorporate into my business. I wanted to share.

The first experience was with a cosmetic company, my sister-in-law was the host. Her consultant asked her to complete the guest list, including phone numbers. My sister-in-law asked me for my permission to provide my phone number so I was already curious about this consultant. I've never asked my hosts for their friends & families numbers BEFORE the party, I wait and get them at the time of the order. See where this information comes into play.... a few days before the party I received my own personal phone call from the consultant. She introduced herself and told me she was so excited to meet me at ________'s house. She asked if I had any skin care concerns so that she would be prepared for me needs on the night of the party. She was very friendly, warm and upbeat and I felt at ease with her call. It made me excited to meet her, too, and to put a face with the name on party night. This also increased my commitment to attending the party. If your Gold Canyon party attendance has been low, try that approach!

Speaking of the same skin care consultant: about a week after the party, my products arrived. I received a phone call from the consultant to make sure I got the order and to explain how to use them. Her follow up and customer service was excellent, she didn't keep me on the phone a long time - just quick enough that I knew she cared! From my experience before the party, I already knew I was going to love doing business with her and this confirmed it! Again, she was an excellent example for demonstrators in caring for her customers. If you are struggling with repeat business or losing customers, try her tactic, a little phone call goes a long way :o)

A final testimony of this wonderful consultant, a couple of weeks after all of this, I went to my mailbox and found an envelope addressed by hand. Hmmmm, how often do you get that kind of mail? Usually everything in my mailbox is computer-generated junk mail or bills. I was very excited to open it up and what do I find? This amazing consultant's monthly newsletter! She had printed an uplifting poem, a product spotlight, and an invitation to her own open house on a bright paper. The newsletter also contained a "Customer Care Card" with my name on it, that she initials for every $10 I spend, then after $100 I'll get $10 off my next purchase. What a great way to keep customers coming back! I went ahead and ordered her featured product of the month, even though I have 4 other consultants from the same company who live closer to me, she has won me over by the way she does her business. Have you ever thought of a monthly newsletter for your customers? Or customer care cards? What a great way to win their hearts, too!

My final "watch and learn" experience was tonight I went to a friend's home decorating party. I was greeted by the Consultant when I entered the room. I thought this was great because at some parties the demonstrator just sits in the corner quietly. She had name tags for all the guests - made from the computer-printed labels with the company logo at the top and our names on it with a sharpie. I noticed that she was able to answer questions and direct her comments to the guests using our names, which was an effective way to keep our attention and personalize her demonstration. Another thing I liked about his demonstrator is that, not only did she have a lovely display in the room, she picked up each item from her display, spotlighted it, told where to find it in the catalog and passed it around the room. I was thinking of candle parties, and how often demonstrators sit everything out and leave it there for the guests to figure out on their own? If we followed this consultant's way, our customers could learn more about the different product lines we offer - candles, body and home. The final example I appreciated from the party this evening was her guest participation tactic. She made some "Auction Bucks" that she would pass out every time a guest asked a question. At the end of her presentation, she had two small items that she "auctioned off" to the guests with the highest bucks. It was a fun way to get us all asking questions and to give away free products (who doesn't love that?)

I hope you can implement these ideas in to your business and bust out the sales this August! Go team!!!!